- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
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My only hesitation would be that they could offer drag when vectoring normal to the axis of the winglet. Aircraft always fly with the winglet cutting through the air while the copter would be spending a good bit of time moving against the winglet, also, you don't see winglets on the end of full-scale props (as far as I know). Just my $0.02isky172 said:A prop is nothing more than a rotating wing. Winglets are used to increase efficiencies of various flight characteristics. Anyone see a reason why we can't get winglets as a propeller option for multi-rotor aircraft?
slothead said:also, you don't see winglets on the end of full-scale props (as far as I know). Just my $0.02
SJBrit said:I'm not sure it would help. You'll notice that winglets are only seen on swept-back wings. The reason is that when a wing is swept back there is a tendency for the airflow to be partially along the wing towards the tip. That flow reduces the flow normal to the wing and therefore decreases efficiency. The winglet is there to eliminate that airflow along the wings (by blocking it) and therefore getting all the efficiency back with 100% normal flow.
Forward motion notwithstanding (it's largely irrelevant compared to rotational speed) a prop is equivalent to a wing which is normal to the fuselage - no sweep back. So for this wing, and for props, the airflow is always normal to to airfoil: there's no airfoil angle to promote flow towards the tip. So, the way I see it, a winglet on a prop would't do anything since it's the solution to a problem that doesn't occur with props.
Monte55 said:I would think centripetal force on those would be hell to deal with on a rotor.
SJBrit said:Just for the record, there is no such thing as centrifugal force in a physical sense. The centripetal force is the force required to keep an object spinning in a circle and is directed along the radius towards the center of the circle. No force pulls the object in the opposite direction.
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